Awelye – Atnwengerrp

Charmaine Pwerle

$3,950.00

Charmaine paints Awelye (women’s ceremonial body paint designs) for the ancestral dreamtime stories which belong ot her country, Atwengerrp, in the Utopia Region. Atnwengerrp is also her mother and grandmother’s country.

Awelye are depicted on the shapes of breasts (the linear pattern of stripes and curves). These designs are painted onto the chest, breasts, arms and thighs. Powders ground from red and yellow ochre (clays), charcoal and ash are used as body paint and applied with a flat stick with soft padding. The women sing the songs associated with their awelye as each woman takes her turn to be ‘painted-up’. Women perform awelye ceremonies to demonstrate respect for their country and the total well-being and health of their community.

In this painting, Charmaine uses the linear work to represent women’s dancing tracks. The concentric circles represent the significant sites such as sacred sites, campsites, waterholes or rockholes.